Cyclone Bondo

Cyclone Bondo

Intense Tropical Cyclone Bondo was a very strong tropical cyclone that was the first of a series of five cyclones to impact Madagascar during the 2006–07 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. Originating from an area of low pressure, associated with developing convection, on December 14, the precursor to Bondo initially tracked south-westward into a region of low wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures. Once in this region, the system began to quickly intensify, becoming a tropical storm on December 18. Throughout the day, the storm underwent an extreme period of rapid deepening known as explosive intensification. By the afternoon of December 19, Bondo attained its peak intensity with winds of 205 km/h (125 mph ) and a barometric pressure of 930 hPa (mbar) according to Météo-France. At the same time, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center assessed the storm to have attained an intensity equivalent to a high-end Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale with winds of 250 km/h (155 mph ).

After attaining this intensity, the storm underwent an eyewall replacement cycle and weakened. Once this cycle completed, Bondo briefly re-intensified before stalling north of Madagascar. As a result of the system's stalling, sea surface temperatures underneath the storm cooled due to upwelling. The cyclone gradually moved south-southwest and once more intensified to an intense tropical cyclone. However, due to the proximity to land, weakening occurred before Bondo made landfall in western Madagascar as a low-end tropical cyclone with winds of 120 km/h (75 mph ) on December 25. The storm quickly after moving inland. The following day, Bondo weakened to a tropical depression shortly before moving into the Mozambique Channel. The remnants of Bondo eventually dissipated on December 28 over open waters.

Although a powerful cyclone, Bondo caused moderate damage in northern and western Madagascar. Few reports of destroyed homes were released; however, 11 fatalities are attributed to the storm as well as another missing person. The damage wrought by the storm was compounded and worsened over the following months after four other cyclones struck the country, killing hundreds more and leaving several hundred million dollars in losses.